The OBF Spring Training translator

Spring time brings lots of excitement to baseball fans. And sometimes, players, managers and owners tend to get a little swept up in the excitement. As a public service, we’d like to take some of the big promises and sweeping statements we’ve already heard this year from Fort Myers and beyond, and help put them in some legitimate perspective with the patented “OBF Translator.” We’ll take a real quote from someone and then – after passing it through the “OBF Translator” help you understand what’s really being said. Enjoy and remember that opening day for the Red Sox this year falls on April Fools Day. Keep that in mind when you start getting those emails about Red Sox playoff tickets
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PAUL ELLIS/Getty

Tom Werner

What Red Sox chairman Tom Werner said after new manager John Farrell’s address to the team: “It was excellent. I think he hit the right notes about his expectations. I think that he’s an articulate, inspiring manager, and I’m very pleased that he’s at the helm.”

OBF Translator: “We haven’t had a chance to see how he polls with the coveted female 18-35 demographic.”

What Werner said about “Francona—The Red Sox Years”: “I read the book. Fortunately I didn’t have to pay for it — it was given to me. It’s a good piece of fiction.”

OBF Translator: “Except that part about the sellout streak, that’s 100 percent correct.”
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Chris O'Meara/AP

John Henry

What Red Sox principal owner John Henry said about the potential sale of the team: “You just don’t get an opportunity to own something like the Boston Red Sox. As long as we can do it, the three of us are committed to being here. These thoughts that we’re somehow selling, those are just erroneous.”

OBF Translator: “Tell Mark Cuban we won’t take a penny under $1.5 billion.”

What Henry said on the relationship between the Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club, both owned by Fenway Sports Group: “The last time I was in Liverpool was, I think, in May of last year. So I don’t know where (this talk of) distraction comes from … Last year’s losses on the field weren’t the result of Liverpool.”

What Red Sox team president/CEO Larry Lucchino said on the projected end of the team’s 793-game sellout streak:“It’s going to rest in peace, I think, sometime in April, I suspect. That’s not a terrible thing. It’s an extraordinary accomplishment.”

What new Yankees third-baseman Kevin Youkilis said a day after he was quoted as saying “I’ll always be a Red Sox”: “I’m a Yankee today and I’m excited. I’m proud to be a Yankee.”

OBF Translator: “Can anyone in Tom Brady’s family keep their mouth shut?’”
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CHIN, BARRY/GLOBE STAFF PHOTO

John Lackey

What John Lackey said on his return to the Red Sox in 2013: “I thought this place would be good for me. I’m a guy who likes competing and showing some emotion and that is what they want. When I’m pitching well, I think it’ll be a good thing. And I’m going to pitch well. This thing isn’t over.”

OBF Translator: “At least until I reach 92 pitches in the bottom of the fifth.”
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John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

Terry Francona

What author and former Red Sox manager Terry Francona said on his first day managing the Cleveland Indians: “I was as proud as I’ve ever been. I knew I would be.”

OBF Translator: “Yeah, I know it’s Cleveland, but it beats the hell out of writing a book with Dan Shaughnessy.”
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Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

Dustin Pedroia

What Dustin Pedroia said about the 2012 season: “We had a tough time. We lost a lot of games. I think everybody is motivated to make sure that doesn’t happen again. We have to do everything better than we did last year.”

OBF Translator: “69-93. Bobby Valentine. That pitching staff. We couldn’t have played any worse if we were all dead.”
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Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

David Ortiz

What David Ortiz said speaking at the famed picnic table in Fort Myers earlier this month about Bobby Valentine: “A team is like a human body. If the head is right, the body is going to function right, but if the head is messed up, then the body is going to be all over the place. It seems like that was part of our situation last year. Guys weren’t comfortable with the manager we had. Guys were struggling.”

OBF Translator: “And despite all that, I got a two-year, $26 million contract to be a DH. So whenever we lose, it’s the manager’s fault. And don’t you forget it.”
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Paul Sancya/AP

Josh Beckett

What Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Josh Beckett said on his time with the Red Sox: “I always enjoyed Boston, Fenway Park—all of it. I didn’t pitch good [in 2012]. That was the biggest thing. The year before, I pitched good all season but had a bad September. It’s just the way things worked out. Everybody has a bad month or a hiccup here or there. Mine just came at a bad time, when my team needed me…None of that [chicken and beer] exterior stuff matters if I’d pitched good, and we’d made the playoffs. Is it stupid? Yeah. We were the same team that had the best record in the middle of August. There were a lot of little things going on there that didn’t make us pitch bad or hit bad, but there were a lot of things that were not in our control we were having to deal with.”

OBF Translator: “I have no idea where that gut and back-fat came from, but I’ll be shooting in the 60s once I get back on the DL.”
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SCOTT AUDETTE/Reuters

Joe Girardi

What Yankees manager Joe Girardi said about his team’s chances in 2013: “This team could win 95 games and get to the World Series.”

OBF Translator: “Of course that’s assuming we can count spring training wins and soak Mariano Rivera in a tub of deer-antler spray three times a week.”
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Chris O'Meara/AP

What Red Sox manager John Farrell said about his team meeting: “To a man in that room, everyone associates the name Red Sox with winning. That came out in conversations throughout the offseason. There’s been an eagerness to get back down here, get started, to rewrite that script. There were different degrees of embarrassment, different degrees of knowing that what went on here last year isn’t the norm, or isn’t somewhat the expectation or allowable to a certain degree.”